The Obama administration, under some pressure from its antiwar base, has begun to release carefully selected evidence concerning the widespread use of torture in the War on Terror. In a set of devastating essays, Gareth Peirce argues that there needs to be a similar accounting of the British governments activities. Exploring the few cases that have come to light, such as those of Guantánamo detainees Shafiq Rasul and Binyam Mohamed, Peirce argues that they are evidence of a deeply entrenched culture of impunity toward the new suspect community in the UKBritish Muslim nationals and residents. Peirce shows how the British New Labour government has colluded in a whole range of extrajudicial activitiesrendition, internment without trial, tortureand has gone to extraordinary lengths to conceal its actions: its devices for maintaining secrecy are probably more deep-rooted than those of any other comparable democracy. If the British government continues along this path, it will destroy much of the moral and legal fabric it claims to be protecting.
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The great theme of her book and, arguably, her professional life too [is] that justice dies when the law is co-opted for political purposes. --Stuart Jeffries
About the Author
The radical solicitor Gareth Peirce represents individuals who are or have been the subject of rendition and torture, held in prisons in the UK on the basis of secret evidence, and interned in secret prisons abroad under regimes that continue to practice torture. Her many clients have included the Birmingham Six, Judith Ward, the family of Jean Charles de Menezes, and Moazzam Begg. She lives in London.
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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
By Slioch
Format:Hardcover
A collection of four essays, with preface and afterword, by lawyer Gareth Peirce. Just over 100 pages. If every British politician read these essays - and preferably re-read them regularly - this country would be a much better place. How politicians have time and again condoned torture and injustice brings shame on all of us. While most of the material is fairly well known, the cumulative effect of Gareth Peirce's wide-ranging and thoughtful arguments is immense, frightening, yet she ends by asking "is it false optimism constantly to assert that there are rights, and that they are inalienable?" This is an important book.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
By JSaunders
Format:Hardcover
This collection of essays completely demolishes any claim the UK has to upholding human rights or the rule of law.
Looking at the UK's complicity in torture and 'rendition' and the scandalous cover-up of the truth of the Lockerbie bombing (and the framing of al-Megrahi), it is a sickening read. It is also very short, and looks only at the UK, so is not a complete overview of the subject (as another reviewer points).
As a polemic, though, it is phenomenal.
Looking at the UK's complicity in torture and 'rendition' and the scandalous cover-up of the truth of the Lockerbie bombing (and the framing of al-Megrahi), it is a sickening read. It is also very short, and looks only at the UK, so is not a complete overview of the subject (as another reviewer points).
As a polemic, though, it is phenomenal.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a fine collection of essays by lawyer Gareth Peirce. Together, they make the case that the British government has been complicit in the US state's recent crimes against humanity: rendition, indefinite detention without trial, and torture.
In the first essay, `Make sure you say that you were treated properly', written in May 2009, Peirce notes that the High Court commented that the British government's role in Binyam Mohamed's rendition and torture went `far beyond that of a bystander'. She notes the complicity of the British government at every stage of his ordeal.
The UN's special rapporteur said that states "are responsible where they knowingly engage in, render aid to or assist in the commission of internationally wrongful acts, including violations of human rights." British intelligence personnel conducted or witnessed more than 2,000 interviews in prisons in Afghanistan, Guantanamo and Iraq where detainees' rights were flagrantly violated. As the UN rapporteur observed, "the continuous engagement of foreign officials in some instances constituted a form of encouragement or even support."
In the second essay, The framing of al-Megrahi, written in September 2009, Peirce questions the justice of the trial in 2000 of the Libyan citizen Abdelbaset al-Megrahi for the Lockerbie bombing of 1988. Dr Hans Koechler, the UN's observer, said the trial was `not fair', writing, "the guilty verdict in the case of the first accused [al-Megrahi] is particularly incomprehensible in view of the admission by the judges themselves that the identification of the first accused by the Maltese shop owner was `not absolute' ... and that there was a `mass of conflicting evidence'.... Read more ›
In the first essay, `Make sure you say that you were treated properly', written in May 2009, Peirce notes that the High Court commented that the British government's role in Binyam Mohamed's rendition and torture went `far beyond that of a bystander'. She notes the complicity of the British government at every stage of his ordeal.
The UN's special rapporteur said that states "are responsible where they knowingly engage in, render aid to or assist in the commission of internationally wrongful acts, including violations of human rights." British intelligence personnel conducted or witnessed more than 2,000 interviews in prisons in Afghanistan, Guantanamo and Iraq where detainees' rights were flagrantly violated. As the UN rapporteur observed, "the continuous engagement of foreign officials in some instances constituted a form of encouragement or even support."
In the second essay, The framing of al-Megrahi, written in September 2009, Peirce questions the justice of the trial in 2000 of the Libyan citizen Abdelbaset al-Megrahi for the Lockerbie bombing of 1988. Dr Hans Koechler, the UN's observer, said the trial was `not fair', writing, "the guilty verdict in the case of the first accused [al-Megrahi] is particularly incomprehensible in view of the admission by the judges themselves that the identification of the first accused by the Maltese shop owner was `not absolute' ... and that there was a `mass of conflicting evidence'.... Read more ›
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Steve
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
A very well written account of how Western governments, especially ones in the UK and US like to lecture others on how prisoners should be treated and how those standing trial should get a fair hearing, when they do whatever they want when it suits them to cover up abuses in their own countries. Money, backhanders and trade deals are much more important to these presidents/prime ministers than common justice and cover ups are the norm. It is refreshing to know that writers like Gareth Peirce are around to show up these people for what they are. It would be nice to think that the day of a vain and shallow UK prime minister cosying up to a brain dead US president are in over but given that Cameron seems to admire Blair so much it seems very unlikely. Witness this Libyan mess that we now have we have been dragged in to.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Twinklet
Format:Hardcover
Essential reading for any responsible citizen concerned at the growth in arbitrary power wielded by the State. This lawyer, who defends victims of the "Antiterrorist" cloak worn by the modern state, shows how we are returning to the absolutist state which existed 400 years ago.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By Pura Vida
Format:Hardcover
Gareth Pierce makes you think about issues that one would not normally think about - typical of our apathetic society when it comes to 'war on terror' and human rights which seem so far removed from our everyday lives. A thought provoking read... recommended.
5 of 18 people found the following review helpful
By Mirto
Format:Hardcover
Just a quick note regarding how short this book is.
By all means, Gareth Peirce is a great lawyer and a good author - so this is not an actual review of the content or the author itself.
The book itself is very short - it almost doesn't feel like a proper book, more like an essay (albeit without many references).
If you are buying this book as an indepth thorough analysis of the topic, then be wary of how short it is - this book might not be for you.
I dont have the book with me - but the price per page ratio must be ridiculous.
By all means, Gareth Peirce is a great lawyer and a good author - so this is not an actual review of the content or the author itself.
The book itself is very short - it almost doesn't feel like a proper book, more like an essay (albeit without many references).
If you are buying this book as an indepth thorough analysis of the topic, then be wary of how short it is - this book might not be for you.
I dont have the book with me - but the price per page ratio must be ridiculous.
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